JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After years of waiting and some pushback from residents, Duval County has opened a new Medical Examiner’s Office for District Four.
The facility is located on the city’s Northside, off Golfair Road.
News4JAX got a behind-the-scenes look at the new state-of-the-art medical facility that serves Duval, Clay, Nassau, Columbia, and Hamilton counties. It handles sudden, unusual, or unexpected deaths in the region.
The path to this new office began at least 10 years ago, driven by population growth and a rise in deaths linked to the opioid epidemic. The old facility could house fewer than 100 bodies at a time, which became increasingly inadequate.
In 2018, Dr. Rao, director of the medical examiner’s office, showed News4JAX the cramped morgue space and shared concerns about the lack of capacity. The situation worsened, leading to bodies being placed on the floor, as revealed in emails Dr. Rao sent to city council.
Community members voiced their frustrations, prompting the city to fund a new facility with millions of dollars and land. One family member said, “At first I was mad at the MEO’s office but then I started doing some reading and it’s not their fault. They are doing everything they can to get people to pay attention and help with the city, but they are just not... giving the people the resources that they need to do their job.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE (2017): I-TEAM: Family responds to Jacksonville morgue overflow | (2023): Brentwood Community holds weekly protest over new Medical Examiner’s Office | City of Jacksonville breaks ground on new medical examiner’s office
Fast forward to late 2025, and the new medical examiner’s office has opened. Walking through the hallways, the difference is clear: there is significantly more space for every function. The receiving bays, once small, are now much larger to accommodate loved ones brought to the facility.
Unlike the old building, which had only one refrigerated space for bodies, the new facility has separate areas for intake, autopsied bodies, and a suite for unclaimed, unidentified, or decomposed remains.
Advanced technology enhances the work of medical examiners. The new office features CT scans and MRI machines to assist with autopsies. While the old building had one autopsy room, the new facility boasts ten.
Tim Crutchfield, operations director for the Medical Examiner’s Office, said, “This is one of 10 autopsy spaces that the new facility provides to us. Two stations here and definitely a larger square footage for the pathologist.”
Organs can now be analyzed microscopically for abnormalities, improving the accuracy of investigations.
The facility also serves as a learning center. It uses a technology called Anatomage, a mock-up body that allows detailed analysis down to the circulatory system. This technology can also create 3D scans of deceased individuals.
When homicides occur in the district, bodies are brought to this office. The facility also prepares evidence for trials.
In case of a disaster with multiple fatalities, the new facility has triple the capacity of the old one and is designed to serve the community for the next 20 to 30 years, with room to expand for future generations.
The office provides a dignified place for loved ones before their final resting place.
Some community members expressed concerns about safety and health impacts. The facility uses UV disinfection lighting in each autopsy suite every night to maintain cleanliness. There were also false concerns that bodies would be cremated on-site, but no cremations occur at the medical examiner’s office.
From the outside, the building resembles any other medical facility in Duval County.
Despite protests from some residents during construction, the new medical examiner’s office represents a significant upgrade in capacity, technology, and community service..